President Hakainde Hichilema paid a visit to the renowned Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto braving the afternoon snowfall to witness one of Japan’s most treasured cultural landmarks. The temple, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, stands as a symbol of Japan’s rich history and architectural brilliance.
Originally built in 1397 as a retirement villa for Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the 3rd Shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, Kinkakuji was later converted into a Zen Buddhist temple. The structure, famously adorned in gold leaf, reflects the deep cultural and spiritual traditions of Japan.
As President Hichilema walked through the temple’s scenic grounds, he emphasized the importance of preserving historical sites, not only for their cultural value but also for their role in boosting tourism.
“The beauty and heritage of Kinkakuji remind us of the significance of safeguarding our own cultural treasures,” said President Hichilema. “Preserving historical landmarks is essential in shaping our collective future and growing our tourism sector.”
The visit underscores Zambia’s commitment to learning from global examples in cultural conservation and leveraging heritage to promote tourism and economic growth.
I also hope the president is taking home the Japanese culture of cleanliness and orderly public service management. And this trip would have been even more fitting had he been accompanied by the First Lady!
He notices how clean the countries he visits are. Unfortunately that part of his memory gets erased as soon as he lands back at Lusaka International Airport. It is a coping mechanism.
Do you think his visit is about such? You as Zambians are just dirty individuals. How many times have they invoked on you to clean up after yourselves? How many city, government keep clean campgains have you had since Kaunda. When Sata was Governor of Lusaka. Reber the persobal effort that he evoked? Why did it die after he left. Cleaniness is a personal choice. It can only grow from individuals if we all make a collective effort. Stop making statements without think…
@Jackson – You are absolutely right. Literally the efforts that police take to make road blocks should be used to enforce cleanliness. Actually, if I were president, I would use the army for this, otherwise I would send them to war.
Its not a good idea to visit Japan in winter. HH’s face almost froze
Top 10 Countries where Africans are not welcome (by Virtual Travel): 1, Saudi Arabia 2,Japan 3, Israel 4, India 5,Ukraine 6,South Korea 7,Greece 8,Italy 9,China and Russia in that order. In Israel racism against Africans is institutionalized; You wont get housing and only the poorest jobs
He deserves a Holiday and break from the challenges back here
Go to Zamanita mumbwa road drainage to see if a council and local government ministry does exist in this country, it is filthy and stinking for many years now. And we even have a dead institution called ZEMA. And now we should be told about some clean heritage site in Japan.
@Michael eka …very great point. Who holds that dont act accountable? Within those organizations stated, someone gets paid to ensure that the issue you state is brought into check. But they sit in their offices and have an army of workers paid to clean up or hold pollutors accountable, but we love to pretend we go to work, yet we just pretend that we work.
And Nkombo still gets his salary? With abundant fake allowances. At any workplace if you dont deliver…..
Let’s learn and come back and bring sanity to our cities like in Japan.
At a time when Congo K is burning threatening to spill chaos into Zambia, that’s when he sees it proper to skip a SADC meeting looking into the crisis to visit the Kinkakuji Temple, just what manner of misplaced priorities is this? I had much hope in the UPND but this chap is just as hopeless as Sata, Kafupi and Jameson “pu$$ie” lips” Lungu.
This temple is for what religion?
Imagine people are dying of cholera but the president is busy touring temples. Temples of a religion he doesn’t even understand. Who goes on icimpwena and leaves such problems at homes??